tjAtactllattiou* 
Dear U ncle Mark :—Your paper is a great 
favorite with us here. My papa has taken it 
for a great many years. I thank you kindly 
for the seeds that you were so kind to send 
me. I planted them and they are coining up 
nicely. I have no flower beds: it is too shady 
in our yard for flowers to grow. 1 have a 
small garden of my own in which I have some 
onions, lettuce, radishes; I planted some 
cabbages, but it was so early they did not 
grow. My papa is very well pleased with the 
seeds and plants you so kindly sent him. He 
planted the potatoes and they came up very 
nicely. He sends Uncle Mark many thanks 
for them. Like Aldia Brewer I too like to 
ride horseback, but I have no company to ride 
with, no brothers or sisters. Do you shut 
your hens up while sitting? 
Your loving niece, Annie D. 
Windham, Ohio. » 
the warm weather of Spring, which came late 
and cold. We were surprised to find that the 
cherry trees were not injured, and the peach 
trees were not injured as badly as we thought : 
the ends of the limbs were killed. Some of 
the trees that bore the finest fruit were blos¬ 
somed full. The cherry trees blossomed quite 
full, but most of the fruit was blasted by a 
heavy frost, aud also the pears w hich were 
very full. There has been considerable wet 
weather this Spring, which has damaged the 
apple crop. It has been cloudy aud rained 
the most of the time for one month, until last 
week which had only two rainy days. The 
heaviest storm we had (and it only rained 
about an hour) covered the whole farm w r ith 
water. Pa said it was the heaviest electric 
storm he ever witnessed in this State. There 
was a continual roaring of thunder aud flash¬ 
ing of lightning. When it cleared off the 
moon shone bright aud I went out to look 
around the farm, It looked like a large pail'*, 
only here and there a spot of ground 
arose above the water, but in the morning 
most of it had disappeared. I must close for 
fear of the waste basket. 
Your niece. 
Mason Center, Mich. Pansy. 
MILKM3 CREAM 
GROWING STRAWBERRIES. 
S the season is at hand for 
Summer planting. 1 give my 
plans and experience for rais¬ 
ing strawberries hoping it may 
encourage some of the Cousins 
to plant a small bed, and make 
money. Early 
» little pocket 
* last Fall I plan ted a bed of Cres- 
u|jp cents and they gave me a crop 
t: of fine large berries this Sum¬ 
mer. Having learned that the 
If prize-takers invariably plant in 
Summer I intend to spade up a 
|j bed which w r as made rich for 
Spring vegetables, as I consider 
ground in better condition for 
strawberries after raising a crop of radishes, 
onions, etc., than when freshly manured—at 
least that is my experience with several va¬ 
rieties. This bed being two and-a-half feet in 
width I shall set a plant, every six inches. I 
think this none too close for large fruit and 
the foliage protects the fruit from sunscald. 
I shall take runners from the old bed anytime 
after July 30th when the ground is moist. 
“ Which is the best method hill or matted 
row,” I notice a cousin asking and he prob¬ 
ably voices many others. Two yea rs ago this 
Spring I planted in the garden in deep, rich 
soil three rows of Crescents 20 yards in length 
and fifteen inches apart in the row'. I cut all 
runners off aud late in Fall mulched them 
with straw, they came through the Winter 
nicely and in the Spring I removed the mulch 
and kept the top inch of the soil mellow; they 
grew splendidly. At blossoming I replaced 
the mulch under them, the largest of the 
plants had now stooled out till 1 think they 
were as big around as a bushel basket. The 
neighbors were surprised to see strawberry 
plants assume such dimensions and set so 
much fruit. I now waited for them to 
perfect the fruit, but some of them 
faltered and none perfected the last berry. 
Still I had a large crop having raised 75 
quarts from them which I calculated would 
be an average of 7250 quarts per acre allow¬ 
ing the row two and-a-half feet space. After 
fruiting I took away all the mulch, pulled out 
all the stools that had show n any weakness, 
spaded the ground and alio wed the remaining 
plants to make runners: this they did not do 
very fast owing to drought, but by Winter 
they had covered the ground. I did not give 
them any fertilizer or mulch, aud the only 
attention they afterward received was a 
watering just as they were ripening their 
fruit this season, a drought then prevailing. 
I picked 130 quarts, of nice berries which al¬ 
lowing for increase of space would average 
10486 quarts per acre. These I sold to the 
people of our village for 1210 and eight 
cents per quart, mostly at eight cents. While 
selling at and 10 cents 1 was informed by 
a gentleman w ho was shipping to the .Phila¬ 
delphia market that he was receiving 20 cents 
and upward for his winch were of the same 
grade; but there is no market in our village 
for high priced lie riles. Rufus W. Smith. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I am nine years old, 
and weigh 07 pounds, I am trying to win a 
prize at school for being the best speller. I 
have a garden in which are growing wheat, 
peas, citron, cucumbers, radishes and sunflow¬ 
ers. I would like to be a member of the Hor¬ 
ticultural Club. My wheat is the Black- 
bearded Centennial. I planted about a spoon¬ 
ful of w heat. 1 don’t let the weeds grow in 
my garden. Eugene A. W ard. 
Benton Co., Oregon. 
[If all your spelling is as good as this in your 
letter perhaps you will win the prize, as no 
words were misspelled. That is right; al¬ 
ways keep the weeds out of your garden, aud 
success is yours. The successful farmer never 
grows weeds.— Uncle Mark.] 
INTERESTING TO 
DAIRYMEN 
Ri:\ Maostr the Humtston Food Preservative Isa 
new discovery which has been perfected after years 
of study and research and Is now offered to the pub¬ 
lic as a8ftfe, sure and harmless prrimrallun which 
cun be depended upon to absolutely preserve and 
keep nil kinds of meat, poultry, flub, milk, cream, 
eggs and vegetable Juices fresh and sweet m all 
ell mates anti all seasons without any alteration In 
their lu--de or appearance. 
Ho itol run In unit I hi* with the tcort hlr** 
compounds which hoy* preetdert it . Thi* 
Murreed* irhrrt nil others leave /'ailed 
There have been at different times several worth¬ 
less mixtures ottered to the public which have pre¬ 
tended to accomplish this great result, hnt they have 
signally failed. This Is probably because their pro¬ 
jectors have tried to preserve everything with one 
compound. A really scientific man would know bet¬ 
ter Ilian this. 
Diflerent Brands Nremuary 
The various kinds of food differ In tlielr nature 
character and component parts, and for tlielr sure 
arid safe preservation different antiseptics are re¬ 
quired. Prof. Hu ml* toil has kept this point In view 
and for the various classes of food the company 
makes nine different preparations or brands of Rex 
Maoncs. They do not efulm that wlial Is designed 
for one thing will preserve another, nor do they 
claim forauy of their preparations any more than 
they will perform. 
A (Solid Tout. 
Prof. Samuel W. Johnson, the noted chemist of the 
Scientific Department of Yale College procured 
cream from a farm 3 miles north of Sew naven, 
Conu. It lind been collected and saved from fire 
milkings of the three days previous, and was, there¬ 
fore, bring so min'd, very difficult to keep. 
How It li tis l)ant*. 
A pint of tills was treated with “l-Varl," a special 
brand of Itex Magnus, adapted specially for the pres¬ 
ervation of cream. After treatment It was placed 
In a glass Jar and seated, at 3 o’clock of the afternoon 
Of January 31st, and at 5 r. M. (or 'I hours later; 
a/1 hr satin- doji , the tint reuteil purtiunuf this cream 
was favtul to pr soar.’ 
Sni'Dlffu Hays Teat. 
At the banquet held ut the New Haven House, 17 
davs thereafter i long enough to send all over 
Europe >. this Jar of t rented eream was opened, and 
the eon tents were iwltli the exception of a slight 
mold on top) found to be pet •fecllu natural ami sweet, 
whilst It rendered the coffer. luscious. The average 
temperature of the npartment lProf. Johnson's 
private laboratory) la which this cream underwent 
this test, was Til degrees Ruhr. 
Keeps Thirty To Kilty-Nine Days. 
Edward Burnett's Peerfoor Farm cream has been 
sent to Europe to different responsible people who 
report that from thlrfit to ft flu ’tine days after It was 
treated with “Rex" in Huston It was cate u In Eng- 
Dkar Uncle Mark: — I received the flower 
seeds, and I thank you for them. They were 
planted, aud most of them came up, including 
the sun-flowers, but something ate them ; the 
rest are doing well. We have about 30 chick¬ 
ens, all Plymouth Rocks excepting two, one a 
Brown and the other a White Leghorn. 
I would like to answer "Young Historian’s 
questions: 1st. Frederick the Great. 2nd. 
Charles C. Pinckney, Envoy to France, when 
refused audience by the French Directory un¬ 
less a bribe should be paid. 4th. “1 regret only 
that I have but one life to give my country.” 
Ogdensburg, N. Y. May I. M. 
pounds of honey already. The bees are work¬ 
ing very nicely on the M liite Clover, of which 
there is an abundant crop here. I naturally 
like to care for bees as their stiugiug does not 
hurt mu. I shall asJc Uncle Mark to please 
give me names aud addresses of several prac¬ 
tical bee-keepers, as i shall havo to get some 
information about bees. 1 would be well 
pleased to see more letters written from Ohio, 
as I am sure the Cousins in Ohio are as able 
to write as well as those in other .States. Uncle 
Mark please tell us what your real name is, 
and why you are called Uncle Mark? J. p. e. 
[Please write agaut and tell us more about 
your bees The Cousins have had but little to 
say concerning them in their letters, so that 
communications relating to them I feel sure 
will be read with interest. 
Letters from Ohio Cousins will be cordially 
welcomed and I shall he glad to publish any¬ 
thing of sufficient merit. Don’t you think 
Uncle Mark a gootl name? What makes you 
think 1 have any other name? Uncle Mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: —It has been such a 
long time since I last wrote to you I suppose 
you think that I have forgotten 1 ever had 
such an Uncle, but I have not forgotten you. 
I received the flowers seeds you sent me, aud 
I thank you very much for them; and my lit¬ 
tle brother Charles tl auks you for his He 
was so pleased to think he had got seeds from 
Uncle Mark he did not know w hat to do. Pa 
planted them for us and they are all up aud 
are growing splendidly; one is going to flow¬ 
er. I also thank you for the pumpkin seeds. 
I planted those myself and three out of the 
five came up. I put in some seeds of the .Sur¬ 
prise Watermelon aud they grew and the 
vines are running nicely. One apple tree and 
one crab blossomed this year (it has only been 
a year since they were set out.); the apple tree 
has quite large apples ou it. My flower gar¬ 
den is growing finely and most of the flowers 
came up. I huve a little vegetable garden but 
it is uot much. We are going to liuve a lot of 
gooseberries and currants this year; the cur¬ 
rants are getting ripe. We have picked 45 
quarts of strawberries off of a little plot and 
there are ever so many more ou the plants. 1 
am not going to school any more till after the 
holidays. Ma took me out because 1 was sick 
and was not able to study. There was a great 
time here on Dominion Day; there were three 
processions aud a great many other amuse¬ 
ments. Dominion Day here is something like 
the Fourth of July in the States, 1 like to 
have it come, but Ma sa} s she would like to be 
in the States on the Fourth of July better, for 
the State of Maine was once her home. I am 
afraid 1 am wearying you with this long letter 
so good-bye. Your niece, 
* Ontario, Canada, Ella M. Turner. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —In looking over the 
Rural I see reports from nearly everywhere 
except this part of Nebraska. We have been 
here 11 years, and I think that everything 
looks as far advanced, for this time of the 
year (June 17) as it has since we have been 
here, with the exception of corn, which is 
backward anti shows a poor staud, owing to 
the cold Spring. Oats look fine There is not 
much wheat raised in this section, but what 
has been put. in looks well. Potatoes look 
splendid; what fruit trees there are in this 
section look thrifty and are doing well. 
The seeds that you sent us n re growing nicely; 
thanks for them. This is a very good farm¬ 
ing country, especially for stock. I think 
sheep will pay out here, as it is dry aud the 
Winters are not very hard. The farmers are 
uot wealth}', as they are mostly "homestead¬ 
ers” and hard w orking men. 
Your nephew, 
Knox Co., Neb. Jas. H. Shanklin. 
treated wltb - -.—PM--- 
land, Italy and Switzerland or.vt ntul prefect Six 
jnr:. were consecutively opened and used by Joshua 
ltluke, Esq., of Boston, ou a recent trip to the Medit¬ 
erranean, tn the steamer Arohlmldc of t he Florlo line 
of Itultun steamers, find t he last was as good as the 
first. 
A (irrai Want Supplied. 
Rex Magscs supplies the great want felt by dairy¬ 
men. It will keep the milk rresh and sweet for a 
week or longer until It Is used. It will keep the 
erenm as shown above. It will keep tbe butter so 
that It will reach the eon turner In lust as line condi¬ 
tion us when It leaves the dairy. Hundreds of tons 
of butter every year become rancid and are sold for 
grease. This loss all falls ou the producer and it 
may he avoided by the use id Rex Muguus. 
TniMolcHu, IIarmlet*, Himplc. 
it ts perfectly harmless and Imparts no taste what 
cm to the articles treated with It. The use of It is 
easy hi id the illreetlons hii simple that a child can 
follow them. 
Get It and Try It. 
You do not have to buy « costly recipe nor county 
right. H'V celt neither one nor the other. 
If your grocer, druggist or general store-keeper 
does not have it tn stock, wo will scud you a sample 
package prepaid by mail or express us we prefer. 
The various brands and their retail prices are as 
follows: “Vluudlne.” for preserving meats, poultry, 
Ush and game, 50 cults per lb. “Ocean Wave,” for 
oysters, clams, lobsters, tlsh, Ac., fit) eeuts per lb. 
‘‘Pearl,” for cream. $l,un per lb, ''Sunw Pinko," for 
milk, butter aud cheese, to emits per lb. "queen," 
for eggs, $1.1*1 per lb. “Aqua Vita-." for medical 
purposes and for keeping fluid extracts, $U»I per lb. 
“Anti Fermeut,”"Antl Mold” and "Anti-Fly," 50 cent 
each. 
Mention this paper. 
THE HUMISTON FOOD PRESERVING CO., 
72 Kilby St., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I received the seeds 
you so kindly sent me some time ago. I thank 
you very much. I planted some of them iu a 
box in the house, aud now some are about to 
blossom The Rural Flint. Corn Ma did uot 
plaut last year, so she planted it this. It and 
the Shoe-peg Corn look very nice. I thiuk 1 
cau auswer some of the questions asked by a 
young historian. Q. Who said, and under 
what circumstances, "Millions for defence but 
not one cent for tribute!” Ans. Charles C. 
Pinckney, during Adams's administration 
iu 179b, when our flag was insulted, our 
ships captured, and our French Envoy refused 
audience unless a bribe was paid. Q. What 
did Nathaniel Hale exclaim when about to 
die? Ans. “ I regret only that 1 have but one 
life to give to my country.” L. s. 
Long Island, Kan. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS, 
Dear Uncle Mark: —As my last letter 
reached the waste basket, I concluded to write 
another, hoping that this will not share the 
fate of its predecessor. I received the pack¬ 
age of seeds you so kindly sent me; but, as 
the season is backward, and we projjose mov¬ 
ing, 1 do not intend to plant them this Spring. 
Pa out the blush potato iuto eight pieces. 
Everyone grew, and are now about eight 
inches high. I think we shall have a good 
crop of currants this year. The Winter killed 
nearly all of the black caps, and the worms 
are eating the leaves off the gooseberry bushes. 
The prospect of a good crop of apples is bad. 
We have got one-quarter of an acre of corn, 
about three inches high. Your nephew, 
London. J. B. Vining. 
[As this letter was very neatly written aud 
contained no misspelled words, I thought the 
Youths’ Department a better place for it than 
the waste basket. Uncle Mark.] 
Originally Intruded for tdiuvlng. Its absolute uurlty 
ami remarkable Emollient qualities huve led toltsuse 
by thousands ns a 
FAMILY TOILET SOAP. 
Multitudes who havo triad tin* moat expensive Im¬ 
ported Soaps, say that none have given them such 
genuine sail*Taction. For the bulb or nursery, It Is far 
superior to “Castile,” and nothing Is purer, sweeter, 
or more efficacious for a 
A NOTE, 
With the next issue of the Rural I shall 
under "Communications Received,” acknowl¬ 
edge all lettei's, etc., sent to Uncle Murk for 
the week previous to the issue containing the 
announcement. If the Cousins will only read 
over the "Communications Received," after 
they send their letters, if they lind their initi¬ 
als in the list, they may know that they ar¬ 
rived safely. Uncle Mark. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—i guess it is time for 
me to write again. Please accept my many 
thanks for the seeds received, which have done 
splendidly, especially the grapes and flower 
seeds. I would have written before but was 
waiting for the seeds to come up so that I 
could report. The corn, melon and potato 
plants are up. The Winter was unusually 
cold. The thermometer fell in February, 24 ° 
below zero, aud in March, from the 13th to 
the 21st, it ranged from 17 ° to 21 ° below. 
We thought the tender cherry and j>each trees 
were killed and looked forward anxiously for 
Wo will mail a sample to any reader of this paper 
on receipt of 3c. stamp, anil a cake of Genuine Yanket 
Soup for 12c. 
. 1 . I5.AVJLIJAMH «fc CO., 
GLASTONBURY, CONN 
New Members of the Club for Week 
ending JULY' 21. —Henry KeteLion, Maggie 
Ketelson, Clara B. Winfrey, Nettie Storms, 
Cora E. Case, Grace Hardy, Lucy Dart, W,J. 
Shuford, Eugene A, Ward. 
ELMIRA FEMALE COLLEGE 
Thoroughly furnished for giving a superior educa¬ 
tion In College, Eclectic and Classical- 1'reparatorg 
Courses at study; ulso in Music ami Art. Heated by 
strum and furnished with elevator. Charges moder¬ 
ate. Send for Catalogue, Rev. A. W. Cowles. D.U, 
ffiA. Elmira. N, Y. 
